Great re-watch last night. Last week it was "
College" "
Pax Soprana" & "
Down Neck" so expectations were low after those powerhouse episodes.
- S1E8 The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti
- S1E9 Boca
- S1E10 A Hit is a Hit
I know there is so much more depth and character development coming in future seasons, but man Season 1 is still the best, right?
S1E8 The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti
The second of eight episodes written by Frank Renzulli and the first directed by Tim Van Patten who would eventually direct twenty. First appearance of Agent Harris (and Agent Grasso who breaks a dish and nearly gets into it with Ton' while executing a warrant), Melfi's son Jason, her butthole ex- Richard, ####ey's wife Angie Bonpensiero, and a cameo by Joseph R. Gannascoli as bakery customer Gino (he comes on the show in S2 as solider-later-capo Vito Spatafore.) The bakery scene is a homage to Goodfellas when Joe Pesci's character shoots Spider (played by Michael Imperioli) in the foot during a card game. "It happens" says Moltisanti as he walks out after shooting Pop N Fresh with his free sfogliatelle and cannoli.
Episodes leads off with the wedding of Larry Boy Barissi's daughter. Christopher shows up with an unwrapped stolen computer as a gift. When Larry calls her darling, Livia responds with "Are you still seeing your other women, lorenzo?" Word starts spreading through the reception that indictments are coming down. The Capos decide they can't lamb it based on a rumor but they better do some house cleaning. JUNIOR: What the ##### you askin' him for? I just-- i just gave you the answer. ####EY: I just gave a g- note to larry boy's kid for the boost. If i knew i may have to lam in a hurry, i would've duked her another time. He gets the $1K he put in the aboost bag back (in front of the crying bride) and everyone starts dragging their wives out of the reception early.
SOPRANO HOUSE: Ton': You better give me your jewelry. Carmela: Jesus. T: Hey. They know we can't produce receipts. You want'em stealing this #### from us? Come on. Carm: I'm not giving you my engagement ring. This isn't stolen. Is it? T: No! What do you think i am?
Tony hides a bunch of guns and cash at Green Grove in Livia's room (Carm drops by and takes her to The Manor for a casual brunch lol - that place is expensive af.) Later in the next episode Larry Boy and Jimmy Altieri are putting their mom's in the same facility so they can do the same thing.
The title is a reference to the famous playwright and of course Ade mangles it when she calls Chris-toe-fer "my Tennessee William." Christopher talks to Paulie about his arc in a great scene. "You ever feel like something bad was gonna happen to you?"
Yeah, and nothing ever did. I'm alive. I'm survivin. Later ####ey tells him "You know who had an ark? Noah."
Tony smacks Chris for being late and starts chewing him out (shooting a civilian, digging up the body, cowboyitis.) SM:
It's like just the f*ckin' "regularness" of life is too f*ckin' hard for me. Ton' starts talking to him about feelings, maybe he has a serotonin issues ("I saw a program last night"), if he's had suicidal thoughts. CM:
Not this skinny guinea.
Contrasting dinner conversations at Melfi's parents and the Sopranos having Chinese takeout (post search warrant when the kids computers are seized) about the Mafia and negative Italian stereotypes. Livia tells Junior (several times bc he can't comprehend it's possible) that Tony is seeing a psychiatrist. "I don't want any repurcussions."
Christopher is haunted by Emil Kolar (his first murder) and enlists Georgie to help locate and dig up the body. "Is that him?"
Now that would be some f*ckin' coincidence if it wasn't, wouldn't it? He's bummed none of the media coverage of the grand jury mentions him but they refer to the deceased Brendan Filone as a soldier. When his name turns up in the
Newark Star Ledger Sunday paper he drives to a dispenser and steals every copy.
S1E9 Boca
Uncle June is in the muff. "I don't go down enough."
That's not what I heard. He's a bushman of the Kalahari! Coach Hauser & the b.s. with 16 year old Ally. Tony decides to listen to Artie and not have Sil whack him but instead turns him into the authorities. Ton' comes home smashed, falls into the table in the foyer, dances drunkenly with Carm, collapses in the LR but misses the couch. Carm realizes he mixed his meds with alcohol, puts a couch pillow under his head bc there's no way she can get him upstairs. "I didn't hurt nobody" as Meadow watches from the interior balcony.
Not my favorite episode but still some great moments and lines. Junior smashing the lemon meringue pie in Roberta "Bobbi" Sanfillipo's face and firing her is one of the most disturbing scenes for me, worse than some of the murders. So cruel.
Boca/Bocca in Spanish/Italian means "mouth", referencing Corrado's oral sex skills and people in the episode talking too much.
S1E10 A Hit is a Hit
Paulie, Chris, and ##### rob and kill a drug dealer. They get a huge amount of cash. T:
A score like this happens once in a lifetime. Gotta make this work for us out in the open, legit. Find a nice i. P. O. Keep it spinning. Live off the juice. CM: I. P. who? T:
I. P. O. Initial public offering. Stock. We gotta find some insider market trading ####. Understand?
Flush with cash, Chris takes Adriana to dinner at Le Cirque and
Rent. Later he's buying her $2400 dresses. They (seemingly) randomly meet Massive Genius, a Jay Z-style rapper/mogul. They get invited to his house party. Adrianna wants Chris to help her get into music management. Moltisanti arranges a sit-down between Massive and Hesh; Massive is acting on behalf of the mother of a deceased black singer whose royalties Hesh stole. He visits Hesh's horse farm and demands $400,000. Hesh refuses, and later counter-claims: there is an unauthorized sampling by Massive's record label of a song that Hesh's label still controls. They threaten each other with lawsuits.
Chris agrees to finance a demo for the band Visiting Day (formerly the Defilers), whose singer, Richie Santini, is Adriana's ex-boyfriend. The demo recording progresses slowly and badly; eventually Chris smashes Richie's guitar over his back. The sound engineer hates the band, Hesh tells Chris the demo is not good, Sil (offscreen) tells him it's trash, and he realizes Massive is only helping them out because he wants to get in Adriana's pants. Ade is hurt and walks out on Christopher.
Carmela wonders whether she and the children will be alright if anything happens to Tony. They go to a neighborhood BBQ and a friend introduces her to the stock market and gives her a tip. She buys, profits, takes Med to the spa.
(I swear as soon as anyone gets a little money on this show they can't wait to spend it on b.s. immediately.)
Tony would like to mix with meddigans (merigone), members of straight society, and after some hesitation accepts Dr. Cusamano's invitation to play a round of golf at his country club. But the other golfers pester and embarrass him with questions about crime and criminals. As he tells Dr. Melfi, he felt he was being "used for somebody else's entertainment, like a dancing bear."
End scene is Tony wrapping up a box of sand in brown paper and butcher's string, which he hands to Cuze over the backyard fence.
Need you to hang on to this for a while for me. Hang onto it a little while. I'll come get it when i need it. BC: How long?
A month, you know. Maybe more, maybe less. Okay?
Thanks. Yeah, sure.
Oh, the club. I meant to ask you about the club. What's going on? Oh, the club. I'm sorry, ton'. Membership's closed.
Closed? Yeah. No new members until old members die.
Nobody's dyin'? Nothin' anybody could do anything about.
No biggie, cooze. Thanks. You sure? I mean, because-
naw. I'll live. Episode ends with Bruce and Jeannie Cusamano staring at the box in their kitchen. You hear a man grunting/screaming offscreen - Tony is bench pressing in his basement.
Good episode. Maybe not great as in top ten, but definitely top half/top third. I remember on the original watch in 1999, every Sunday it was like "holy crap this show is sooooo good."